A spokesperson for the South Dakota Board of Regents confirmed plans to fire a USD Fine Arts Professor. The move comes in response to the professor’s post on his personal social media account following the Charlie Kirk assassination.
Michael Hook, a professor at the University of South Dakota School of Fine Arts, made a Facebook post that sparked outrage among Republican political leaders on Friday.
According to the expletive-laden post, Hook was previously unfamiliar with Charlie Kirk, but the professor recognized him as a “hate-spreading Nazi.” The post went on to question “all this concern” regarding other shootings, including the murders of Minnesota state Rep. Melissa Hortman and state Sen. John Hoffman earlier this June.
Hook’s faculty page from the University of South Dakota website has since been removed. The original post and Hook’s social media pages have also been removed.
Shuree Mortenson is the Director of Communications for the state Board of Regents, which oversees the state’s public university system, including USD. She confirmed that the board had started the process by filing an intent to terminate Hook.
“So that decision really came down to our Board of Regents,” Mortenson said. “We have a nine-member board and ultimately, they made that decision.”
Mortenson provided a BOR statement, which stated that it is critical that employees “promote constructive dialogue based on mutual respect.”
When faculty and staff discuss or write about issues of public concern, they must acknowledge their roles as educators and their standing in their communities, which entails additional responsibilities.”
She confirmed that Hook was fired in accordance with SD Board of Regents Policy 4.4.8, which addresses faculty remediation. While the section does not specifically address personal social media use, it does refer to faculty speaking and writing as private citizens.
According to the code of conduct, employees must be free from censorship and discipline, but also have special obligations due to their community position. These include the following: “they should at all times be accurate, show respect for the opinions of others and make every effort to indicate when they are not speaking for the institution.”
While some question whether Hook’s firing violated his First Amendment rights, others, including Gov. Larry Rhoden and State House Speaker Jon Hansen, praised the termination. Both took to social media to express their opinions on Hook’s post, Friday afternoon.
Mortenson declined to say whether the Board of Regents expects a lawsuit or if pressure from Hansen or Rhoden influenced the decision.
Mortenson stated that the Board of Regents has heard from numerous people about relieving Hook of his duties.
“We’ve received comments from students, from constituents, from members of the community on, you know, on all sides of the issue,” Mortenson told me.
Some are already taking steps to have Hook reinstated. That includes a change.org petition with more than 2,400 signatures. The petition claimed Hook’s Facebook post “was in no way affiliated with the University,” and that firing him “gives our campus the impression that we are not allowed to exercise our right to freedom of speech.”
